A 14year old nursing mother (names withheld) in Akure, the state capital of Ondo State, has called on government, civil society organisations and humanitarians to help seek justice over perpetual defilement by some men, and allegedly by her biological father.
The teenager, who gave birth to a baby boy out of countless defilement on January 22, 2017, recounted her ordeals when speaking with our Correspondent in Akure, lamenting that the father of the baby, Oluwadarasimi, rejected the child because he was not the only one that had carnal knowledge of her.
The teenage mother of the three months old Oluwadarasimi dropped out of one of the Local Authority (LA) primary school when she was in Primary IV, identifying one Sikiru as the father of his baby. Though, she admitted that Sikiru invited some of his friends to defile her too in her father’s house.
“Sikiru slept with me many times in my father’s house and he also invited his friends namely: Omo Ibo, Jibola, Akue and Dada to have sex with me. But he is the father of Oluwadarasimi,” she insisted.
The minor noted that whenever she accosted Sikiru, who is married with two wives, two kids and a co-tenant with her father, a commercial motorcyclist, he would threaten to chop off her head if she ever told anyone that he is the father of her baby-boy despite the resemblance.
“Whenever I meet him to claim the paternity and responsibility of Oluwadarasimi, he will shout at me and threaten to cut off my head if I ever tell anybody that he is the father of the boy. This even caused a big fight between him and my daddy in the house; he beat hell out of my father when he challenged him.”
She, however, said that her father also had sex intercourse with her but he was not responsible for the pregnancy, revealing that her father, who is a single parent and divorced her mother when she was a baby, also had another sex with her once after her childbirth.
The teenager, who has never met her mother and rescued by her former teacher in LA School, simply identified as Mrs. Olatunji, urged government at all levels and all humanitarians to help her prosecute Sikiru and his friends for taking undue advantage of her innocence.
Mrs Olatunji, on a visit to her house, disclosed that the victim had been maltreated and uncared for since she was her student, “she would come to class in tattered uniform, no textbooks, no writing materials and often times would come to school without food.”
The teacher, who has been taking care of the 14years old nursing mother and her baby, narrated that she just disappeared from school suddenly and ran into her recently in one of Akure streets; unkempt, pale, distraught and with her malnourished baby. She confirmed that her father was having incest with her.
According to Olatunji: “I was sad when she told me that she left school because she was pregnant and had delivered of the baby boy. She said one Sikiru, a co-tenant in one of the single room apartment which she was staying with her father, step-mother and a sibling, who is now deceased, is the father of the baby but refuse to take responsibility.
“There was a day the step-mother stormed our school shouting that we should help her beg her step-daughter to leave her husband alone. The woman narrated how she woke up in the middle of the night and found her husband having sex with the victim. When we asked the father, he denied it.”
She added that immediately she saw the terrible condition of her former student and the baby, she had compassion and went to a nearby police station to report the case before taking her custody. She noticed Oluwadarasimi’s genital organ was diseased, she gave her N2,000 to go for circumcision of the baby.
“But she came back to my house the following day to tell me that her father collected N1,500 out of the money, instructing her to give the baby local concoction to treat the diseased organ. Anytime she comes to play here with me and it is time to go back home to her father in the evening, she would be crying and begging her not to allow her to go.
“She lamented that her father would have sexual intercourse with her again, threatening her that he would cut off her head if she ever mentioned it to anybody.”
The teacher reiterated that the father of the teenage mother also threatened her too, warning her to steer clear from his daughter and her baby. She expressed disappointment at the attitude of the civil society organisations and the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development at their nonchalant disposition to the welfare of the victims.
She however urged government at all levels and other well-meaning Nigerians to speedily intervened in the matter so that little Oluwadarasimi and her mother can be properly reformed; as well as to relieve the burdens upon her as a Good Samaritan.
All efforts to speak with Sikiru and the father of the teenage mother proved abortive as the latter eluded all available means to speak with journalists concerning the issues.
But the State Coordinator of Child Protection Network (CPN), Mr. Emmanuel Adaramola, has taken up the case and pledged to mount pressure on the ministry and the police department saddled with the responsibility of settling children matters.
“CPN will stop at nothing to ensure justice is done in this issue, we will investigate the matter and make sure the offenders are brought to book if found guilty,” Adaramola said
All efforts to speak with Sikiru and the father of the teenage mother proved abortive as the latter eluded all available means to speak with journalists concerning the issues.
But the State Coordinator of Child Protection Network (CPN), Mr. Emmanuel Adaramola, has taken up the case and pledged to mount pressure on the ministry and the police department saddled with the responsibility of settling children matters.
“CPN will stop at nothing to ensure justice is done in this issue, we will investigate the matter and make sure the offenders are brought to book if found guilty,” Adaramola said
